#now if i can just figure out a good non-Amazon site to get a good work/play desk

[icantalk710]

Ladies and gentlemen, the long weekend 😌

[faery-snow]

I posted 1,354 times in 2022

That's 1 more post than 2021!

13 posts created (1%)

1,341 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@accio-victuuri

@rainbowsky

@starsxinxthexbluexsky

@wwx-lwj-ai-ni

@theusernameiwantedwastakenlol

I tagged 1,341 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#the untamed - 463 posts

#cql - 249 posts

#wangxian - 241 posts

#yizhan - 203 posts

#mdzs - 195 posts

#xiao zhan - 184 posts

#wang yibo - 166 posts

#lol - 106 posts

#beautiful - 78 posts

#cql cast - 72 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#pretty sure it was yibo since in a post-filming cql promo interview xiao zhan was asked if anything good had happened to him bc of the role

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

It's from the show couple of mirrors and it's a wlw show! It's really cool! You can find it on youtube under 'couple of mirrors'.

I HAVE JUST FINISHED IT AND IT’S AMAZING!!!!

Republican-era China: 1930s style and swag and even some boogying. It starts out looking like it’s going to be a family drama, but quickly gains murderous edges. O_O

It covers emotional abuse and gaslighting. It shows a woman who sticks to her convictions even when the world is against her. It shows a world where children belong to the one who births them. It has epic 1930s spy movie vibes.And yes, the lesbians both get a happy ending.

It’s on Youtube and Amazon Prime. It is a must-see.

Thank you so much for telling me about this, anon. You are a star <3

3 notes - Posted March 8, 2022

#4

Being in the MDZS fandom means 🌄 morning sex and 🪦 mourning sex are both viable tags and you'll never know if the author mistyped until you read the fic

6 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

#3

Best Independent News re: China

Guys, I love the news site What's On Weibo. I use it to keep up with the larger mind of Chinese society and where it's at. How they feel about their government's handling of "Zero Covid" lockdowns. The events in Tangshan where several women were beaten by men in a restaurant, and how netizens reacted. What shows and movies are big hits right now.

Everything from the heavy to the light, current news to social movements to entertainment.

I particularly like that their articles are about the people, not the government. You get the broader view, seeing how the people aren't a homogenous group agreeing with the PRC, but rather a patchwork of many beliefs and views and thoughts and voices.

I highly recommend What's On Weibo to other international fans of Chinese culture, entertainment, etc.. They're one of my favorite independent news orgs that has reliable info about China, and which lacks the typical Western bias against all things Chinese.

Personally, I'm a very satisfied reader. They're currently free of outside influence--no political or commercial groups funding them, no larger news org controlling them. They're looking for independent funding from readers so they can continue in that vein.

Anyone interested in supporting independent coverage of China, look no further :)

7 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

#2

The "cool girl" Liu Yuxin

I emerged from a haze of doctors' appointments (seeing medical specialists every 5.3 days for the last 2 months and yes I looked at my calendar and then used a calculator to figure that out STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT)--to watch the first episode of SDC season 5!

I'm using the method of watching the non-subbed full episode and the subbed talking-only bits simultaneously, switching back and forth between them on my computer. Which sucks, yes, but the Youku app didn't work for me. The talking-only portion isn't actually all of the talking, which sucks further. I'll rewatch when the full subbed episode is available.

I cracked up when Liu Yuxin talked about being apparently "cold" and unreactive.

Just like Yibo has been accused of in the past, lol! A bland smile, or no expression at all, that's her default. She's very calm and level about things. I like that about her a lot.

Of course, being told you're not emotive lands very differently for a woman* than for a man. Luckily, they don't make a big/gendered deal of it, just some light ribbing from the interviewer/editing team--no different than we've seen Yibo get for his same lack of effusion.

*I'm using woman and she/her for her because that's what she goes by in entertainment circles. In her personal life, she may be an androgynous woman or she may identify as nonbinary, I don't know. But that's the thing: I don't know. I don't want to make assumptions of queerness (although maybe we ought, since we make assumptions of straightness and cisness all the time).

Just like Yibo, of course, she has her moments of surprising emotion. When she sees a particularly awesome move, for example. She's very cool and I'm a little in love with her.

See the full post

15 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

WWX: I have this idea--

LWJ: That is the stupidest idea I have heard.

LWJ: I will come with you.

-later-

LWJ: I feel like I am doing something dumb by being here.

WWX: Then why are you still here?

LWJ: I did not say I minded.

WWX, having a revelation: I'm dumb, do me.

*stupid idea promptly abandoned*

51 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[collegecoward]

Sorry if you answered this already, but do you have any tips for finding colleges to apply to? I have a long list of colleges in my area, but I don't really know which ones I should look into.

How to Pick a College to Attend

This is the ultimate question! I'll be honest: I've been procrastinating on answering this question because I wasn't sure if I'd have a good enough answer. I’m figuring this out all over again, now that I’m looking at law schools.

Since I'm still learning, I'm going to tell you what I know now and what I'm learning. Other people might have different ways of dong it, and there's no One Right Way to choose a college, as far as I know. But when I was starting looking at colleges and colleges were looking at me, I needed to know mostly three things:

1. Who to talk to. Who is safe and has information I need.

Ideally these people are your teachers, your counselor, your family and friends, and the admissions offices at every single college you are even a little bit interested in. Seriously, I know it can be scary, but it’s their job to talk to you.

If your school has a college and career office, go there. I regret not going and talking to the folks in there at my school; I was scared, but they could’ve helped me. The Fair Opportunity Project, other non-profits, and even your state might have mentors who can help you along when you’re stuck. And I’m always here.

2. What order to do things in.

You have your list of colleges--that’s a great start! I'd start by organizing yourself based on what you know about these schools and what you learn as you go.

Play around with the choosing-a-college sites like Cappex or the College Board.

Get on those colleges websites and pretend like your scrolling through Instagram or browsing on Amazon. You’re shopping for a school you like, is all.

Please feel free to copy this spreadsheet I made and edit it with whatever you want!

3. What to think about.

Here are some things to think about when you’re sorting colleges by ones you like and ones you don't:

Is this a good school for my major?

Are there opportunities I like at this school?

Is this a competitive school for me?

Is this a school that meets my needs, spiritually or demographically?

Is this school the right size I'm looking for?

What's the campus like? Where is it?

How much might this school cost?

Academics

Do they have your major? If you haven’t decided what you want to study, do they have majors you’d be interested in? What classes do they require? What classes do they offer? Most schools offer most majors, but some of them specialize in one thing or another. Figuring out which school in your area is really good at the thing you’re interested in can help you prioritize, at least as far as academics go.

You'll also want to understand how competitive the school is, overall and for your major. What does their average accepted applicant look like? What about their average applicant for your major? The school’s website, as well as sites like College Board, can help you figure this out. That said, I wouldn’t necessarily discourage you from applying to a competitive school. Research shows that students often “rise to the occasion” when they apply for schools “just out of their reach” if they get in. It can be good for you to attend a school where you'll be challenged, which can happen at any school, but may be especially true at your "reach" schools.

Culture

Public schools or private? And if they're private schools, are you interested in schools with strong religious affiliations, or more secular vibes?

Demographics. Early on, I didn’t realize how much a campus culture can change depending on who goes there and teaches there. For example, many Black students find that going to an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) or PBI (Predominantly Black Institution) is extraordinarily validating in a way that PWIs (Predominantly White Institution) are not. The same can be true of other MSIs (Minority-Serving Institutions), even if you are white. Here’s a good breakdown for more information. This isn’t to say that one type of school is better than the other, the experience is just different!

Competitive or chill? Some of this you’ll find in the marketing of a school. I’ve gone to chill schools, I’ve gone to a competitive school. Sometimes the Competitive to Chill Scale correlates with the school or program's acceptance rate, but each campus has its own unique culture that you can get a sense of when you do your research, go on tours, and talk to people.

Environment

This is closely related to culture, but environment is a little more about the place than the people. One of the big things I didn’t do but should’ve was to visit the schools. How you feel going to, and potentially living on, a campus every day can be very much influenced by the school’s environment.

Big city, small town? Is the town part of the campus, or is the campus part of the town? When towns or cities are smaller and surround a college, these are called “college towns.” Life tends to be built around the needs of the campus, which is a huge perk, but beyond the reaches of the city, there might be…nothing, until you drive to the next town. On the other hand, being in a city that happens to have a university in it can be a perk, too, because there’s so much beyond the campus to do, and there are plenty of opportunities to leave campus and live and work someplace else, But if the campus is inside a big city, it might not feel much like a campus. Kinda depends on what you're looking for.

Big school or small school? Big schools tend to have lots of opportunities to do things like research, activities, clubs, a variety of classes, etc. Small schools tend to have smaller class sizes for more personalized attention and more of a community feeling.

Residential or commuter? Often on a college website they’ll tell you whether most students live on campus or off-campus, but you can always ask an admissions counselor. Commuter schools may be more convenient for students who work or take care of family members, while residential campuses can be more of a traditional college environment. It’s not black and white, of course, but this is just something to keep in mind.

Cost

If you're like many students, you probably can't pay for school out of pocket, and you don't have someone to pay for you (or they're only willing to pay so much). Once you've taken a look at the schools and figured out which ones you like, you should think about cost.

What is the cost of attendance? What kind of scholarships do they have? What’s the difference in tuition and fees between schools? If you plan to live on campus, how much would that cost? Every school has to have a financial aid calculator on its website that can help you figure this stuff out.

If you’re like most students nowadays, you can’t just pay for college out of pocket without some kind of help. What kind of financial aid does the school offer to an applicant like you? When you look at their financial aid page, what scholarships are there? Who are they for? Do they give need-based aid, and do you fit their criteria for need? Do they give merit-based aid, and do you fit their criteria for merit? Usually you can’t guarantee you’re going to get scholarships, but it is prudent to think about opportunities.

Does your state give aid if you go to certain schools?

THIS IS SO MUCH INFORMATION, I KNOW. If you are overwhelmed, that is totally and completely normal!!! I would encourage you to go back up to the top of this post, and take things step-by-step. And if you need any more help from me, I promise I won't take so long to respond next time.

You can do this. I believe in you.

[phoenixyfriend]

What can I do to limit Amazon’s* negative impacts without harming vulnerable communities who rely on their services?

* or any similar company that people are forced to use to survive if they are poor, disabled, elderly, rurally isolated, or any combination of the above

My post on Amazon has been circulating pretty far these past few weeks, and a lot of people keep trying to argue about what can be done right now. 

1. Contact your representatives

If you live in the US, there are several sites you can use to figure out your senators (you have two) and your representative (you have one). Call them if there’s a phone number. Email them if there isn’t. They’re obligated to have SOME form of contact. If your rep is already on your side, they can use your email as evidence for how citizens feel about the issue when Congress is in session to argue. If your rep is NOT on your side, they will see the email as evidence that a portion of their constituency is NOT willing to reelect them if they don’t play nice, and that scares them a lot. Either way, make yourself heard. Harass them if you have to.

(For more local issues, especially things like minimum wage and labor laws, you can find your representatives for your state or city government, like your mayor or governor or county rep, and contact them as well. Make yourself heard.)

Write emails in your own words about one of the following subjects:

Supporting the USPS. It’s the backbone of the US shipping industry, and major shipping companies like UPS, FedEx, and Amazon use it for overflow.

Monopolies and antitrust acts. Reference past antitrust acts leveled against oil, railroad, and telecom monopolies.

Raising the minimum wage. Reference inflation.

Enacting a marginal tax rate on high earners (re: the 1%, but phrased in a way that they’ll take seriously). Reference the marginal tax rates of the fifties.

Increasing disability benefits. Try to work something in about how stringent the requirements to qualify are, and how benefits don’t cover enough for medical care, transportation, assistive technology, and so on.

Increasing social security benefits for retirees. People pay into this fund all their lives as part of their income tax; it’s supposed to benefit them right back! (You can circle back to marginal tax rates and how the rich usually have savings and don’t need social security, but the poor often don’t have savings and rely on it.)

Enforcing corporate taxation. Find some statistics on who paid corporate  taxes in the past few years and who didn’t. Make sure to find a few big names and what their tax rate SHOULD have been. Emphasize how much extra money the government would be making.

Nationalizing the health care industry. Reference how well it works for countries like Canada, Korea, or Sweden, and how often hard-working Americans are bankrupted by unexpected medical emergencies.

Enacting or enforcing higher standards of employee rights. Did you know that minimum wage employees in Indiana don’t have the right to a lunch break unless they’ve been working at least twelve hours?

Legal repercussions for predatory pricing practices. Walmart is the best-known for this, but Amazon does it too, and they’re a fair bit sneakier about it.

Capping rent prices. Housing costs are among the highest financial pressures Americans face right now, and the fact that housing costs have risen SO much faster than the minimum wage is why it’s impossible to rent a one-bedroom apartment on a minimum wage anywhere in the US right now.

Capping upper management incomes. A CEO should not be earning several thousand, or several million, times as much money as their employees. It’s a long stretch (so argue the more achievable things first), but imagine if we could convince the government to say “actually, you can only make up to twenty times as much per hour as your lowest-paid employee.”

Banning police as threats against unions. UNIONS ARE GOOD THINGS. SUPPORT THEM.

Anything else that comes to mind! There are lots of subjects. This list is not an exhaustive one.

2. Vote

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. Vote in every election. Sometimes you won’t be able to vote for your top choice, and that sucks, but remember that our system is fucked and you have to go for the lesser evil that’s still capable of winning. So vote Blue (because ambivalence to our desires is better than glee at our suffering), and then send as many emails and make as many calls as you can to force them to recognize that, since you helped them get into office, they have to honor the deal to actually represent you now.

3. Support small businesses

Okay, so supporting local businesses probably isn’t too easy in a pandemic. You can’t just walk to your nearest mom and pop store to see if there’s an affordable option. That said, if you can afford to do so, try to see if there are small businesses in your area that are doing delivery or curbside-pickup.

If you live in a more rural area, see about ordering from small online businesses for non-essentials. If you’re thinking “hey, I’d like a new scarf” or something, check Instagram or Etsy first. All faults aside, Etsy is only a marketplace, not a seller themselves, so they rely on the vendors using their site to remain in business. (Whereas Amazon tries to drive their vendors out of business to take over their market share.) You can also use Google Shopping, eBay, or Craigslist.

4. Don’t Use Amazon (or similar), but don’t shame people for using it either

Some people rely on loss leaders to survive. That’s a fault of the American economy being a horrifying mess, and I listed a whole litany of the causes above. Money talks, so avoid using Amazon unless there is NO other way to get your product, but if someone you know uses Amazon, and you know they’re struggling, keep your mouth shut. If they’re not struggling, mention your distaste for Amazon but don’t push the issue; they’re more likely to come around if they feel like you’re not passing a moral judgement on them for it.

5. Recognize that many fairly-priced products are more expensive than you’re used to

The example I usually use is fashion. We’re used to a shirt costing ten or twenty dollars, even at places other than Walmart or Target. This price is what we’re led to believe is reasonable, but it’s really a factor of incredibly underpaid workers, usually overseas. If you can’t afford it, feel free to blame the low minimum wage (I certainly do), but remember to take a step back and remind yourself that it’s not that the piece is expensive, it’s that you are underpaid, and the current system is trying to teach you to expect cheaper items as the norm so they can get away with paying even more people less than they deserve.

6. DONATE

Yeah! There are a whole lot of nonprofit agencies that focus on issues that relate to this topic. I prefer to donate to organizations that focus on enacting systemic change through legal or institutional channels, like the ACLU and AAPD, but there are a lot of options, some of which focus on more direct help, or on specific parts of the country. Figure out one that speaks to you, check it against a trusted charity rating system like Charity Navigator, and set up a monthly donation if you can afford to. Constant support can cause compassion fatigue, but consistent support is how you Get Shit Done.

7. March

Join an activist group and march. Sometimes there are other major events going on (hijacking one of the current marches against racism and police brutality in favor of one about monopolies would be in bad taste AT BEST), but there will come an opportunity to make your voice heard by showing up on the street and just yelling with a sign.

Now go forth and unleash hell.

[rigelmejo]

Dude I was on the language learning forms as I do sometimes, and someone was lamenting the lack of Chinese content to immerse in (watch, read etc). And how it was hard to find and they didn’t have this problem with Japanese what should they do?

Well. 1. I get their frustration on one level, as I do think Japanese content is so much more mainstream to watch in English speaking countries (at least anime and Japanese video games), that trying to find content in a language where it’s harder to just find content right on Netflix or from a friends recommendation does bring up a new challenge. Whereas with Japanese, probably you could accidentally stumble onto it or have a friend recommend you something, then at least explore deeper with some idea of what you liked/where to start finding it.

However. The person also sort of thought the lack of content was due to Chinese just not having as much content or as interesting content. Again I’m going to assume their key issue was just - it can be a new challenge finding media if you have a harder time just starting.

Because lol?? Chinese has SO much content. Like as far as language content on the internet alone??? Chinese has been eons easier to find than Japanese for me, and in terms of sites I actually use regularly is much closer to my experience of English online (there’s so much Chinese content online... so much... an incredible amount... like in chinese I’ve even found free movie watching sites FOR shows in English - like the way I find sites in English to watch Chinese shows IN chinese lol! Like you can use English to search for Chinese stuff, and literally do the reverse to find English stuff, there is so much Chinese stuff... I found more stuff in Japanese using bilibili in chinese than I could find of Japanese using YouTube In English). And Chinese drama land is HUGE it feels as active as American television, so you have endless genres to dive into and companies and actors and writers etc (there is a distinct lack of sci fi though as far as I’ve seen, but to be fair america isn’t making a Ton of sci fi compared to like Detective shows either - it’s just English speaking sci fi has had some more good ones in recent years). There is no lack of Chinese content out there. There’s audiobooks, dramas, audio dramas, talk shows, radio, fanfiction, novels, fanart, manhua, sites to find other stuff, forums, weibo, search sites, just a lot?? Like, if you think Japanese has enough internet content then there is an adequate amount of Chinese content on the internet too lol. You just may have to do a touch more initial exploration.

I just. Thought the assumption “can’t find media means their media sucks” was funny. Because also? I have not found that to be true. I know very little about Thai media. I just happened upon SOTUS cause of a friend talking about it. So like someone watching anime conveniently - I got into it. It was good, so I dug, and found a lot of amazing Thai shows (and some I didn’t love cause lol genres all have a mix of quality depending on show etc). There IS a ton of amazing Thai shows that exist right now. But if all you ever found was SOTUS? While it was great when I saw it to me, once I found more I realized there was a LOT better stuff. So like if you see one cdrama on Netflix (if that’s how you first easily find the media), that does not mean all shows will be that quality or anything like them! And just cause it’s the first one you found doesn’t mean they’re all like that ones quality.

Like I had a similar experience with jdramas growing up, so I get it. I was into anime, saw some (trainwreck) live action adaptations. And as a teenage just blanket assumed all Japanese live action media was gonna be around that quality. And then in recent years, I checked out some Japanese live action media - to see if new stuff was better. YEAH IT SURE IS (and I would imagine some old stuff was great I just gave up after one not-wonderful one lol). SO MANY AMAZING jdramas exist now! Even the ones I most feared would not be great - live action adaptations of anime’s? They’re so much better now, some of them are genuinely loved in their own right as standalone live actions. So like. One not-great show experience is NOT representative of the entire plethora of shows available and their quality. Now that I’ve realized how MANY good jdramas I missed out on? I have so much catching up to do ToT

2. If you’re in this boat of “content seems hard to find, so I feel like there’s none or no good stuff” what to do?

First ask some friends for recommendations?

Check Netflix, Amazon, YouTube (YouTube has a ton of cdramas), Viki, iQiyi app. Like how some people get into anime, maybe you just need an easy conviennent show in your recommended to get into more content.

Check out rec channels on YouTube like Donghua Reviews and Avenue X to hear about some shows and figure out the kinds of ones you’d even want to check out (I imagine other languages also have review channels like for kdramas).

Go to MyDramaList.com. Search genres you like, read recommendation list posts. if you’ve seen a show at this point already you can look it up and see in the “Recommended” section what other dramas are like it, you can see it’s genre tags to see WHAT genres you even seem to like. Use this to start DIGGING and finding stuff you might really like. Since like with anime, you’re only going to find the most popular stuff at first just based on Netflix or friends (which might not match up to your personal tastes as well as finding stuff that Is more your favorite genres).

Try out new stuff. And if it sucks, you don’t like it? Drop it, learn that about yourself, start another new thing. You’ll figure out what you like and dislike pretty fast (like I personally hate bad pacing or bad writing specifically characterization, and I can notice when the specific things I love are gonna be in a show pretty fast).

Check out genres specific to that language’s media. Because if it’s new to you, you might not know if you even like it or not, and if you like it then which things you personally prefer in it (since even within a genre there will be wildly different content and feels). For Chinese this might be wuxia, xianxia, palace dramas, costume dramas, republican era dramas, tomb raiding dramas etc.

*That’s how it worked for me, SOTUS led me to the bl drama fans, eventually they recommended Guardian so bam I guess I was learning chinese, YouTube recced me more cdramas from there to continue with, and mydramalist.com helped me find other shows with actors I liked from guardian (and other bl related shows which led me to Go Princess Go of all things for the bi lead), and that site helped me find more genres and shows I’d like, as well as friends continuing to rec things. Didn’t take long to figure out what I liked, didn’t, and to start noticing what upcoming stuff I’d probably be excited for. And now there’s so much good stuff found I don’t have enough time lol.

As for non show media: use shows as the jump off point. Just like using “easy to find shows” can be used to break into finding more shows. Once you have a show you liked a lot - look up it it’s based on a book, if it has an audiobook, an audio drama, a manhua, a donghua. Chances are it DOES have some of this stuff, because cdramas do a PRETTY regular amount of the time. Often cdramas have all or nearly all of these other story types. So jump into those, then find more novels or audio drama or manhua etc by branching off from the one you liked to others like it. Novelupdates.com is good for doing this with novels (it has a recommendations section), I imagine manhua sites have rec lists too, ximalaya starts recommending stuff once you’ve listened to a few audio on it, etc. And if you get into fandoms of those x media types, those fans will start recommending more too. And again, even if you just stick to media related to shows you liked - so often shows have so MUCH related media that would definitely keep you busy. (Like I didnt wade into non-show connected novels until I looked up more novels as recommendations afte show-related novels, like MDZS and Guardian leading me to SVSSS and 2ha and Can Ci Pin which at the time had no show adaptations, and then eventually found just-novel rec lists - which is still the main way I find fanfic).

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change. 

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though. 

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business). 

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020.  Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS 

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now. 

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention. 

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section]. 

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript. 

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines. 

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries. 

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops. 

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you. 

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design. 

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them. 

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter. 

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin. 

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other. 

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages. 

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day. 

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.  

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes. 

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments. 

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here. 

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15. 

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries. 

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start. 

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now. 

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them. 

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics. 

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin. 

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks). 

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.  

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing. 

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm. 

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools. 

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them. 

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon. 

 ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion. 

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register. 

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+. 

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden. 

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon. 

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template. 

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free. 

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

[johnny-chou-blog1]

iRobot Empire Subang vs Autovac Bot

Since 2012, Aetis Sdn Bhd was Awarded the Authorized Distributor by John Ackerman Pte Ltd (Singapore) for the iRobot brand within Malaysia. They have helped make awareness among Malaysians that having a robot vacuum at home can significantly improve life quality.

As John Ackerman focuses on their business in Singapore, they rely on Aetis to provide sales and after sales service for iRobot clients. After couple of years, John Ackerman grew challenging and terminated Aetis Sdn Bhd rights as approved distributor. John Ackerman setup a workplace at iRobot Empire Subang Jaya (SOHO). Aetis was left to dry. Aetis shortly ventured into promoting different products like inkjet printers, canvas printing, smart door lock, and also unicycle or scooters. They still continue to provide after sales service for their previous customers earlier the takeover.

While all this exist occurring, AutoVac Bot attempts to disrupt the iRobot market by providing 2 Years Warranty and also beating the high price set by the Authorized Distributor. They seem specializing in robotic vacuums just.

Update: It seems the John Ackerman has exited the iRobot market in Malaysia. Presently we're not certain who exist your Authorized Distributor for the iRobot brand. However, from what we collect, AutoVac Bot exist still striving strong providing exceptional price and service for its clients.

It was a very late adopter of robot vacuums. The top iRobot hit shops 15 years earlier I eventually buy a robot vacuum for my own home. When I did, I moved low price: I bought an inexpensive vacuum without any mapping capabilities from Amazon. That low price robot vacuum has functioned well, even should it does just bump on every side the space till its battery runs out. I still don't believe that robot vacuums would replace a true weekly vacuuming, but my little bot has surprised me with its ability to suck up dust and debris.

IRobot's Roomba i7+ exist on the specific opposite spectrum of robot vacuums from the 1 I own. If the low price robot that I have exist a Kia, the i7+ exist the Cadillac of robot vacuums. It would map my whole home. It would be controlled by a voice assistant or by a cellphone program anywhere in the world. It would even empty its own bin. It also prices RM 4950, which exist 5 times extra than the robot vacuum I buy. IRobot also sells an i7 type that has identical cleaning capabilities but does not come with the special automatic bin-emptying foundation to get a couple hundred bucks less, but that's a bit such as buying a base type BMW.

The i7+ exist certainly the future of robot vacuuming that's obtainable from the present. However there are still things I'd such as to see enhanced.

The i7+ exist an upgrade to iRobot's high-end Roomba 980 from 3 years ago. The 980 was effective at mapping a space and economically cleaning it, but it would discard the maps after each cleaning session and then reconstruct them from scratch every time. The i7+ updates this feature in a major way: it could at the moment keep the maps it generates and use them to boost its cleaning routines. It also lets me name various places in my home so that I could tell the vacuum to especially clean a particular space and ignore others.

I could run as much as 10 heavy floor plans from Roomba's program for iOS and Android, and that I could control the vacuum via voice commands for Alexa, Google Assistant, or even from the program itself. My home includes 3 floors, and that I could use the program to see each ground and what rooms have been inside. When I put the robot on a heavy floor than its home base, it uses the various sensors and cameras on it to point out which floor it's on automatically and load the right maps. Regrettably, it can't yet climb the stairs to obtain to heavy flooring; I still have to pick it up and carry it such as a philistine.

Watching the i7+ wash a floor exist a mesmerizing experience, and it's wildly heavy from the way the non-mapping vacuum gets the work done. Instead of just randomly crisscrossing the space until it runs out of steam, the i7+ follows a logistical and predictable pattern, almost such as the way the lawn care professional trims a field earlier a sporting event. It will wash an whole area earlier continuing on to the next 1, also should its battery runs low or its bin fills up earlier it's finished, it will remember where it ceased and return to this spot when it's recharged. It's very satisfying to see it do its work, and should you're running a cleaning cycle, the predictability of it means you could safely move on every side the vacuum without really having to be concerned about getting in its way.

IRobot says it takes 2 to 3 cleaning runs to get your i7+ to"master" the space and produce a map, which exist about what I saw in my testing. My main floor, which has 3 bigger rooms at a largely open program, has been implicated in 2 runs, while the upstairs floor with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, and hallways took extra runs to completely map. Once a flooring exist mapped, the program will try to point out specific rooms, but you would adjust the digital boundaries and then name them after it's attempted to sort them out. From there, you would tell Alexa or Google Assistant to wash a specific area with voice commands. In the event you go furniture or otherwise reconfigure a room, the i7+ will adjust its map the next time it conducts a cleaning career and upgrade its database.

IRobot asserts these mapping skills not just confirm that the Roomba cleans the whole ground earlier consuming, but in addition, it allows it to wash at a quicker, extra efficient manner since it already understands what regions it's covered and what has not yet been ready.

The program also includes the normal monitoring choices and battery-monitoring features. Unique into the i7+ are the reports after it's completed a work: it could tell me just how many square feet it cleaned, the number of"dirt events" there were, and how lengthy it took to finish the work. It also shows me an overview of all the places it hit throughout the cleaning run.

But clever mapping existn't the sole luxury feature on the i7+, in addition, it could automatically empty its own bin. The i7+ includes a unique charging base that stinks all of the dust and dirt out of the vacuum and sets it into a sealed disposable tote. The tote in the base holds 30 bins filled with dirt, and you could purchase a three-pack of substitution bags for RM 180 when you've gone through the 2 that the iRobot includes.

This network has 2 advantages over the standard way you empty a robot vacuum: it removes placing the dust back into the atmosphere when you hit the bin into the garbage could, and so you just need to think about draining it every month or so, instead of every time it runs. Of course, the downside to this exist that the foundation exist a lot bigger than a regular charging base, the bags are an extra cost that you have to shoulder, and the procedure for sucking on the dirt out of the vacuum exist very loud.

That leads me into the joys of the i7+. IRobot says that the brand new vacuum exist quieter than the 980 it replaces, but this exist not a quiet vacuum. It's much louder than the basic robot vacuum I am familiar with, and the cleaning base seems such as a jet engine when it sucks the dirt out of the i7+. If you such as to program your robot to operate at the middle of the night when everyone exist sleeping, then you might great it to be overly loud when cleaning and draining. IRobot says that the i7+ includes 10 times the suction capacity of its foundation versions, but the cost of all the power exist extra noise.

The i7+ also needs some lighting in the rooms in which it's running in order for its various cameras and sensors to work, so running it in a darkened room immediately existn't the most efficient way to use it.

And lastly, although the i7+ got stuck far less often than my dumb robot at the months I have been analyzing it, it still has trouble using high-pile carpeting. The shag rug runner in my upstairs hallway was shown to be especially difficult for the robot to work out, and it has stuck on the carpet almost every time that it ran it over, necessitating a manual intervention and reboot.

The i7+ exist a remarkable robot vacuum with distinctive features that you won't find on lesser models. I do not necessarily consider it's worth 5 times the cost of a standard vacuum, but when this automation trickles down to lower-end versions, it will be very great to have. Now, should just robot vacuums can figure out a way to climb stairs.

Conclusion: With the iRobot market becoming extra competitive with Lazada and also Shopee, it exist definitely fine news for the end consumer such as us. We'll obtain better deals and prices for iRobot products like Roomba and Braava.

With John Ackerman exiting the Malaysia market, it seems that we're left with AutoVac Bot, Kimi Robot Store, plus a latest competitor, OhMyMi.

Personally, I consider that AutoVac Bot exist your best iRobot distributor right now, since they're highly concentrated on distributing iRobot goods in Malaysia.

What I such as best about AutoVac Bot exist their ease of purchase on the site, and very fast response time via livechat on their site. They have been moving in the Singapore market and I am so eager to see how it ends up.

OhMyMi exist a latest kid in the city. We'll have to see how it goes on.

[humboldtfog]

Years of depression has prepared me very well for the current state of affairs which is weird but whatever here’s a list of my faves on netflix, if I’m missing something let me know cause now’s the time, right?

I'm kinda embarrassed by how long this list is but also kinda like fuck that, there have been very long periods of time where it was either sit and watch shows all day or lie down and stare at the wall in silence all day so I chose the former and it adds up and there's nothing wrong with that.

Glow (Badass ladies learn to wrestle, great 80s aesthetics and grrrrl power.)

Our Planet (Netflix version of Planet Earth, beautiful, cute, terrifying that we aren’t doing more to save us all.)

Bojack Horseman (Hilarious and “deep” critique of LA and celebrity culture for people who don’t care about LA or celebrity culture. Also very funny visual jokes about how if animals were also kinda humans, and lots of great jokes about cliches and tropes, puns, and weirdly rhyming and alliteration? I don’t know how to explain it just watch it.)

Father Brown (BBC, based on mystery novels about a priest who always meddles in police business and solves murders in his small English countryside town.)

Pose (The Ball scene in NY in the 80s, poc queer and trans writers and actors bringing their people’s stories to life. So much joy, so much beauty, but also NYC in the 80s so you will cry.)

Paris is Burning (Documentary made during the Ball scene Pose is based on.)

Sex Education (Such empowering representations of all walks of gender and sexuality, and actually very educational, like I would straight up show this in schools because everyone would be very entertained and would learn a lot more than they teach in a lot of schools.)

What Happened Miss Simone (Documentary about Nina Simone’s life, music and the activism the establishment/ government worked to suppress and used to blacklist her.)

Night on Earth (Low light camera technology has gotten hella good and they’re starting to learn stuff about animals’ behaviors at night that they’ve never been able to study before.)

Call the Midwife (Follows stories from the midwives that worked in the East End of London after the war, based on memoirs. Interesting look at the kind of life of poverty people led before there were many large hospitals or birth control, right as the British were implementing their universal healthcare program.)

The Great British Baking Show (Everyone’s so nice and everything looks so good!)

Atypical (Dramady about a high schooler with autism and his family, very funny and great representations of autism and how to be a good dude.)

Parks and Recreation (Just very funny and everyone knows it. Amazing ensemble cast, and they still keeps in touch through a group chat awww doesn’t that say something!)

Kim’s Convenience (Canadian comedy about family of first and second gen Korean immigrants that’s just a really solid funny modern day sitcom.)

Queer Eye (I feel like if everyone in this world could get a life makeover from these guys we just wouldn’t be here right now.)

Obvious Child (Jenny Slate accidentally gets pregnant and gets an abortion. It’s funny and it’s realistic, we’re not all Juno.)

Maria Bamford: the Special Special Special (Rad lady comedian not afraid to talk about her mental health and lack thereof and very vocal about the stigma surrounding mental health problems and I very much relate to. My favorite standup probably ever. I could make a list just for standup so message me if you’d like more suggestions.)

Monty Python (Flying Circus, movies, doc, ect. “The Beatles of comedy” is the cliche but it's true.)

Easy (Very unconventional non-narrative structure and editing, following random people in Chicago in a very real life feeling way. Different story each episode, but sometimes characters show up briefly in each other’s lives or return for a second episode.)

Everything Sucks! (High school nerds and lesbians and theater geeks in the 90s! I’m so sad this only got one season I rewatched it recently and it’s just so solid.)

She’s Gotta Have It (Revival of Spike Lee’s first movie, black girl magic, art world, gentrified New York, lots of sex.)

The Office (Classic, holds up very well, totally solid throughout, worth a rewatch. Also if you're a fan Jenna Ficher and Angela Davis are doing a rewatch podcast jsyk.)

Billy on the Street (Mindless game show for laughs, amazing gay comedian runs around New York yelling questions at them. I watch this with my dad and he can’t help but snort even when it’s “inappropriate” or “juvenile” so you know it’s good.)

Good Girls (Some lower middle class family ladies that are all about to be broke decide to rob the grocery store one of them works at, but they accidentally cross a gang that stored their cash there, so they gotta pay it back, and of course can’t help but get deeper and deeper into it. Very suspenseful like your heart rate will go up and stay up. )

Arrested Development (It’s just funny, as you've probably heard, but I'm telling you it just really is.)

The Laundromat (Tells the stories of a few of the people involved in the panama papers in different ways, explains in an entertaining way how money laundering works in a way that made it mostly make sense even to me. The rich get richer, and Meryl Streep is here to tell them to fuck off and pay their taxes.)

Russian Doll (She keeps dying and coming back to the same moment over and over and can’t figure out how to stop the cycle or why so kinda sci fi, very suspenseful, big cliff hanger ending, or rather no ending, and just found out season two filming is delayed because virus which is very annoying!!)

Dear White People (Show picking up where the movie left off, after a frat hosts a black face party and the ivy league college is forced to deal with racism.)

Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Stories based on Dolly songs. Very Hallmark channel, you will cry.)

Episodes (Show about two British writers making a version of their BBC show for American tv. Kind of meta, very funny, Matt LaBlanc plays himself and it's great.)

Dumplin’ (Fat girl grows up with a beauty pageant winning mom and enters one herself with the help of her late aunt’s Dolly Parton drag queen friends.)

Lunatics (Chris Lilley is the best character actor ever, all his shows are just him playing different parts and you seriously forget it’s all one actor, even when he’s playing teenage girls.)

Jane the Virgin (Prime time soap opera about a girl who is engaged and waiting until marrige and is accidentally inseminated with the only sperm sample of a man who’s had cancer so decides to keep the baby, very heavy on the soap opera cliches in a meta way but also that’s what it is. So good at first but after the first three or so seasons it gets too much tbh though.)

Zumbo’s Just Desserts (Australian Bake show but with just sweet stuff and pressure to be avant garde.)

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Jerry Sienfeld goes out with funny people to coffee and lunch in fancy cars and they have funny conversations.)

One Day at a Time (Very very cheesy laugh track sitcom, like the kind of thing my grandma would watch, but it makes me so happy it’s doing a great job eplaining really woke concepts like queer pronouns and ptsd and addiction and white privilege to people like my grandma!)

Orange is the New Black (Good stories about very diverse characters, I’d say by starting it off about a upper middle class white girl it tricks privileged white people into watching and then encountering the more realistic stories of women who go to prison and how the system treats prisoners. Ending of season two is super solid and you can stop it there, season three is a really great critique of the privatization of prisons. I admit it goes on and on to the point that it’s stressful and after watching it spread out over years I can’t remember/ keep up with all the different story lines, though they’re all good stories to tell.)

Space Jam (Just saw while scrolling for more ideas this was added! One of the greatest sports movies of all time obviously.)

Bonus amazon prime shows, I try to avoid Amazon in general but these are just too good if you know a prime member who you can't convince not to give their money to amazon so they might as well give you their login (like yer dad).

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (A 1950s New York upper class Jewish house wife gets dumped and starts doing stand up, so funny, great actors, and they seriously transform NY back into another era.)

Good Omens (Mini series based off Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s satirical novel about the biblical apocalypse, very funny, very smart, very British, does the book pretty solid justice.)

There are other decent things that aren’t included, I’d say these are solid recs for a general list of genres all over the map without letting it get to a ridiculously unhelpful length. I feel like I’d be good at the “if you like this then you’ll also like…” so let me know if some of these are your favorites too and want personal recs for what to watch next based on a brain instead of an algorithm.

If you want to have a remote date and watch things together on video chat or one of those watch party sites or just tell me what to watch next here’s some stuff on my list I’ve been curious about or not sure about or don’t want to watch alone or have been putting off, and now’s the time right?: Strangers Things, I Am Not Okay With This, Black Panther, The Betty White doc, John Mulaney Snack Lunch Bunch, Dead to Me, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, A Wrinkle in Time, The Little Prince, Maniac, Wet Hot American Summer reboots, and a bunch of different standup specials from comedians I like.

[thebookworm0001]

Words cannot express how much i want either a gaming laptop or a pc

Friend, I understand you completely. It’s why I saved up for a long time to build my own. Did you come here for a how-to on how to build one for yourself? Probably not! But I’m gonna tell you how anyway because it is significantly cheaper to build yourself a pc than to buy one (and laptops are even more expensive).

So! You wanna build a computer? Here’s what you need:

-Motherboard. All the things plug into this. Very Important. Do not break. When handling, touch metal beforehand so you don’t shock it with static and fry it. Comes in 3 sizes aka form factors: ATX (standard). mATX (smaller). itx (holy shit its tiny) smaller=/=cheaper! all pretty much have the same layout and all come with a manual. front panel connectors are a bitch.

-CPU. Your processor! The thing that processes all the ones and zeros into shit you actually understand. Very expensive. Very delicate. Do not drop. Needs something to keep it cool. Lots of cpus will come with a cpu fan in the box but not all. They touch the cpu with a weird paste called thermal paste that helps heat go away. Fans or liquid cooling will screw into the motherboard over the cpu.

-GPU. The most expensive part of your build, probably. If you’re building a gaming pc it’ll probably be ~1/3 of your budget. It’s the thing that makes everything pretty and visible. Gotta have a graphics card to see what the ones and zeros are doing. Two brands rule the GPU market: Nvidia and AMD. Idk if one is better than the other but I went AMD because i could get a better one for cheaper so.

-RAM. Your computer’s short-term memory. Lots of RAM means more tabs of Google Chrome open at a time. 16 gigs will get you through just about anything. 32 is generally overkill. 8 is less than you want for a dedicated gaming pc since most newer games have a higher RAM demand.

-Storage. Comes in two forms: a physical hard drive (reliable but kinda slow at this point when compared to an ssd. definitely your cheapest option) or a solid-state drive (smaller than a HD. much faster. more expensive. generally comes either as a 2.5″ brick-looking thing or a stick called an m.2 which is even more expensive and even faster) You want enough of this to store your operating system and games on. Lots of people go with a base of 1 TB (1000 gigabytes) because games take up a lot of room. 500 can get you through if your library is smaller or you don’t mind rotating games on and off the computer. can get one big storage thing or as many as you want. some people have a smaller ssd to hold the operating system and frequently used games (so they load fast) and store everything else on a much larger hd.

-Power Supply. Pretty self explanatory. The thing that powers all the other things. You want one that gives you enough power for all the parts to work at the same time at max capacity. Don’t cheap out on this they can do weird shit like explode and break all your parts. Come in three types: non-modular, semi-modular, and modular. it just determines how many power cords are permanently attached to the power supply. non-modular are cheaper, but tend to have mustard-and-ketchup colored cords (not pretty) and they can be a pain to manage. you gotta hide those extra cords you aren’t using somewhere (which is why people like cases with a ‘shroud’ or little box that hides the power supply). Modular are more expensive but it’s really nice to only plug in the cables you need. 

-Operating system. Yeah you built the computer but you gotta have a thing that lets you interact with it. Windows is the most common. You can also get it for free. Kinda. Gotta flash drive? Go here and download the windows installer, stick the usb into your new computer and BAM! Windows is installed. You’ll have a nasty watermark and be unable to put your own background on it without an activation key (~$130 for Windows 10) but you can use it.

-Case. The thing you put everything else into. Can be plain black boxes or wierd illuminati pyramid things. Make sure the size matches up with your motherboard form factor. There are these little screws called standoffs in the case that secure the motherboard to it. The standoffs have to match up or the motherboard won’t fit. Power supplies and graphics cards also have to fit inside the case - make sure it’s big enough. Those dimensions will be listed with the info for the case and the individual parts. Case can come with fans or without. (You need fans. They keep your parts from heating up - which kills them. there’s also water cooling but its more expensive and scares the heck out of me. most cases only really need the fans that come with but you can add more.)

That’s it! (well. plus a monitor and keyboard and mouse and speakers/headphones but those aren’t the computer. also optional: rgb - the fun lights that make your case look like a unicorn barfed inside it. can be part of your fans or just strips of lights. lots of gaming motherboards have rgb built in. i like rgb.)

Sites like https://pcpartpicker.com/ will help you figure out the parts you need and if they’re compatible. Because it sucks to buy your parts and realize they don’t go together. The big ones? Motherboard and cpu. CPUs are generally made by either Intel or AMD. Currently, AMD is the best bang for your buck. Motherboards are designed to work with one brand of cpu - and generally specific chipsets. Motherboards will tell you the chipsets or series they work with (eg a 3000 series chipset which means it can work with any ryzen 3000 cpu like a Ryzen 5 3600 or 9 3900x). Motherboards will also only work with specific RAM depending on your CPU. There’s a support page on their sites that gives cpu and ram compatibility. RAM support pages show up like this:

which sucks (this is for the B550M AORUS ELITE (rev. 1.0) board from Gigabyte)

just google that module pin and the right shit will pop up. that first one is the  VENGEANCE® LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 4000MHz C19 Memory Kit - Red (aka corsair’s vengence lpx line of ram with 4 8gb sticks of ram that run at 4000 megahertz in a fancy red case - you can see all that info in the pin number if you pay attention but its easier to google. the faster the ram [that MHz number] the more expensive. the more gigabytes the more expensive. ram also comes with rgb options. they are more expensive.)

Always makes sure stuff is compatible. Pcpartpicker will tell you if something isn’t. It’s very helpful. but also check the motherboard support lists. nothing else has compatibility issues generally: manufacturers want you to be able to use whatever parts you can get with their stuff so you keep buying from them.

sites like https://benchmarks.ul.com/ https://www.gpucheck.com/ and https://www.userbenchmark.com/ are great for comparing. wanna know if you can get a cheaper part that works just as well? go to these places. 

benchmarks.ul

gpucheck (RX Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon Rx 5600 xt)

userbenchmark (Jedi: Fallen Order recommended parts vs my own build)

Newegg.com is a really great place to buy your parts and it usually has the cheapest prices. Make sure to shop around though. pcpartspicker is pretty good about telling you where the best prices are, but sometimes amazon or newegg will drop their prices randomly. also with the plague times, prices and availability are fucking weird right now. stuff will be out of stock for weeks. just. pay attention and check frequently.

I really like this video for trying to figure out budgets. Only have $300 to spend? They got you. Have $3000? They’ve got a guide for that as well. There’s a ton of budget build guides out there but this is the most recent one I like. Motherboard prices could be down a bit due to the very recent release of the b550 chipset, but again, plague times are making computer parts more expensive. That channel has a ton of reviews actually (and step-by-step guides for building) and is geared toward the gaming-minded so if they say a laptop or prebuilt computer is good and fits your budget, check it out. Prebuilts make life easier for you, but you can end up getting a less-than-stellar quality with the additional cost of construction. plus building your own means you know exactly what to do when it comes time to upgrade your parts. 

once you put everything where it should go, turn it on! it might not work, that’s okay. you might not have plugged something in all the way! or maybe a part was dead on arrival. get that fixed and install your operating system. once that’s done - get connected to the internets (if you don’t have a wifi card installed you gotta plug that sucker into the wall via an ethernet cable) and start downloading drivers from the motherboard manufacturer’s website and the gpu manufacturer’s website. your motherboard might come with a dvd of them but if you don’t have an optical drive (dvd player) that doesn’t help you. update your operating system. then download your games and play! (you can also do this thing called overclocking where you go into the bios when your computer is loading and max out all your hardware’s settings but that isn’t necessary for casual gameplay and can also void your warranties)

i hope you enjoyed that infodump you didn’t ask for!

[thorinss]

MAKING MONEY ONLINE

hey y’all. i decided suddenly to make this post because i know it could be super helpful to people out there who might be struggling for money, or even those who just want to earn some extra cash on the side. i’ve been doing this for about 6 months and while it’s not full time or even part time work, it’s extra money that you can use for food, hobbies, gas, etc.

a lot of these sites i am about to list pay very little (we’re talking pennies or dollars) but it accumulates over time if you’re willing to keep at it. in combination these are all good sites to just leave in an open browser or tab and just do the tasks passively as they come in or as you feel like it. half the time i’m playing the sims on one monitor and earning money on my other monitor.

anyways here we go! these are in no particular order; just in the order that i think of them. i will include my referral codes but don’t feel obligated to use them!

Prolific - this one is my favorite because i have had the most success with it. there are a lot of survey sites out there that will kick you out mid-survey after you’ve already invested so much time into them because you’re “not qualified” to answer the questions. prolific is the opposite. you sign up, fill out your profile, and the surveys that fit your demographic will come to you. most of them only take a few minutes to complete but the payout is better than most other survey sites out there. the surveys come from academic researchers who use your data anonymously for studies. some days you won’t get any studies, and some days you’ll get several. you can cash out to paypal once you reach $5. keep a prolific open in a tab and it will alert you when a new study is available!

Slicethepie (non-referral link) - i discovered this one recently and it’s one of my favorites. the pay is very little; i’m only making 4c per review right now but i’m told the pay goes up the more you review. all you do is sign up and get paid to write short reviews for clothing, get paid to watch movie clips or commercials, or get paid to listen to new music (whaaaaat). it’s one of the more fun ways to make money. it takes a couple minutes and you earn a  few pennies after each one. those quickly add up!

Usertesting - this one is really good if you manage to qualify for the tests, which can be hit or miss (mostly miss in my case). it requires a microphone and being okay with recording your screen and sending the info to a company. basically, people pay you to test our their websites and make comments about it. they’ll ask you to go to their website and look for something specific, and you have to voice your thoughts about the site out loud as you look for what it is they asked for. the pay is $10 per test which is amazing, but you have to take a pre-screener test to qualify for them. overall i’ve made maybe $40 total by working passively (not every day) in the last 6 months but hey - that’s a tank of gas.

more under the cut!

rev - if you’re a fast typer, a good listener, and have some time on your hands, this is a pretty good option. rev is a transcription service, so you listen to some audio and type out what the people are saying, and then get paid for it. some of the audio is garbage which is why they pay people to transcribe it, but if you have the time you can make a few bucks. just make sure you take it seriously because if you somehow appear to be “below average” at this, they will terminate your account. the amount of transcriptions that appear varied so you just have to keep an eye out.

GG2U (non-referral link) - this one is pretty dope. sign up for free trials, install and play video games, take surveys, watch videos, and earn points. 100 points = $1. within 5 minutes of signing up i had $7. just be certain to cancel any trials before the trial period ends so you don’t get charged. 

amazon turk - not gonna lie, i have not been able to achieve this one, but i have personally seen people make hundreds and thousands on this platform. if you don’t know already, mturk is where clients post microtasks for humans to do that robots cannot yet achieve. if you are willing to put in more work than me and figure it out, check our /r/mturk or do some googling before pursuing it.

Ibotta (non-referral link) - (get a $20 welcome bonus if you use my referral and scan your first receipt) this is an app that offers cash back for shopping at the stores listed on ibotta. you buy an item from the store listed on ibotta, can your receipt into the app, and boom you get cash back.

qmee - this one makes chump change but it’s worth it. you complete surveys for some change (50c or somewhere around that) and that’s it. there’s also a browser extension; i use this more than the surveys. the extension pops up on the side of your window whenever you search something on the internet - but only if it’s something that qmee is looking for. and occasionally it offers a few pennies if you click on the link. best part is you can cash out no matter how much you’ve made. i cashed out 32c the other day lmao.

inboxdollars (non-referral link) - i don’t know if it’s just me, but this website only works on firefox for me. my chrome hates it. but anyways, this site provides very passive income. i do not recommend the surveys; they’ll have you answer a bunch of questions and you think you’re going to finish it and get the $$$, but then it kicks you out because “you’re not qualified”. the ways to earn that i like are watching videos in the TV/videos tab and playing the games in the games tab. after you watch x amount of videos or play x amount of games, you get a scratch off ticket. i usually get about 15c from them, but it’s something. when i first started i worked my way about to $50. they send you a check in the mail.

redbubble (my shitty store) - y’all know about this one already i’m sure. if you’re creative and think you can make a design for shirts and accessories, go ahead and make an account! you might make zero money, you might make a few bucks every couple months, or you might make a couple hundred. it all depends so this one is really a gamble, but still worth looking at if you’re into that sort of thing! 

crowdtap - haven’t used this one in a while but i will be getting back into it. you take surveys and answer questions for brands and receive points in return. you need to accumulate 500 points before you can begin cashing out, which will take a while. after that, you can redeem the points for gift cards to amazon/sephora/walmart/etc, use the points for a subscription service, or use the points to donate money to a charity.

swagbucks (non-referral link) - this site is wild and just like mturk, i have yet to master it, but have seen others do so. it’s another typical survey site very similar to inboxdollars listed above. you can take surveys for swagbucks (points), watch videos, use their cash back feature, etc. 

vindale research (non referral link) - similar to prolific. it’s surveys from researchers that pay a few dollars for you to answer some questions. length of survey varies. each survey generally pays aroud $1. there is also a jobs tab that gives a list of jobs in your area.

submittable - this one is a recent discovery. my first article was rejected but i’d like to share this one anyways in case someone would like to pursue it! there’s a large list of writing and art contests mainly. a lot of them don’t seem to be offering pay but the ones that do offer a huge payout if you win the competition.

cambly - if you have any type of skill in teaching other languages, being a life coach, of just have any knowledge you think you can pass along, cambly might be for you. when you sign up there are two options, be tutored or become the tutor. if you want to tutor people, you need a webcam and microphone access. my connection never worked with cambly so i have not been able to personally try it, but i have seen people make a lot of money from teaching english to little kids.

ebates (non referral link) - another cash back option every time you buy something online. or you can link your credit/debit card and use it when you buy stuff in stores. so you get money for spending money. good stuff y’all.

lionbridge & appen - these two sites are basically the same thing just different companies. this is the ONLY two sites on my list that pay hourly. i believe it’s somewhere between $9 - $12? i could be wrong. but once you sign up, apply, and get approved, you could be doing a multitude of things, inducing: translation, transcription, social media evaluation, data collection, and more. 

TIPS:

minimum requirements are internet, a computer, and a phone. if you have an extra laptop or computer that still works, set it up and let videos on inboxdollars or swagbucks run in the background. this way you are making money without even thinking about it. you could even just open the videos in another window and mute them, which is what i’m doing right now. you still get the credit for watching them but you don’t actually have to listen to them.

this is not a get rich quick and easy deal. none of these jobs are simple and you won’t be pulling in hundreds per day. it’s hard, annoying work. so don’t expect to be rolling in the dough.

if you can, create a second email for all those times you get asked to sign up for something or subscribe to a newsletter. this way your actual personal inbox isn’t getting spammed with ridiculous things you don’t care about. just check the second email once in a while to make sure no one has sent you anything important. if you choose to get email notifications for new paid surveys on whichever site, i recommend letting those go to your personal inbox so that you may see them. or use the second email and check it daily. it’s up to you!

even though these sites don’t pay a lot, when you use them all together you can get a decent amount of cash. i’ve seen people work entirely from home, pulling $1000-$2000 per month just by using sites like this. but obviously that doesn’t mean it will be the case for everybody. i do this stuff on the side and am happy with just making a few dollars per day.

if it ever feels pointless because you only earned 30c or $1 just remember this - it’s more money than you had five minutes ago. it’s something. it might not pay the bills but eventually it might buy you a coffee or sit in your savings collecting interest. however you want to use it!

CASH OUT IMMEDIATELY. as soon as you are allowed to transfer your money to paypal or wherever, do it asap. there have been times where sites will shut down or glitch out and you are unable to get back all that money you earned.

be careful with some surveys. if they seem fishy or gimmicky or are constantly offering you to sign up for a bunch of bullshit, exit immediately. it will get you nowhere.

do not use VPNs. this usually results in getting banned.

OTHER RESOURCES:

i cannot possibly list every single way to make money online because there is so much! i listed my favorites but please check out these other websites that provide even more information and opportunities. they’re the reason i know so much and have been able to earn money on the side.

down the rabbit hole you go!

r/beermoney (wiki)

r/workonline

r/flipping

the work at home wife

i hope this helps someone out there. i have a job but i don’t get enough hours so i try to make a little extra on the side utilizing all these sites. and i have bad social anxiety so anything i can do to work from the comfort of my own home is my ideal situation. as i said, you won’t make a lot of money to begin with, or even later down the line, but as i’ve repeated - it’s something. it’s $5 more than you had earlier.

again, hope this helps and please let me know if it does! and if you have any questions i can try to help you!

[spnfanficpond]

February 2019 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting today with @impala-dreamer!! Thank you so much, Beka, for joining us!

We talked about self-publishing through Amazon, how to do it, what the benefits are, and the challenges to making a finished product. A rundown of the chat, as well as some general Pond news, is below the cut!

Q: What sort of music do you listen to when you write?

Beka: Oh, uh... Well, Actually, I have a lot of playlists on youtube. So it depends. I have a hardcore smut list that is just music that gets my hips moving... then a romance thing which is feely stuff. A "Deanspiration" list that oddly has zero Zepplin in it, just stuff that reminds me of him or gives me ideas. Sometimes I hear a song and it instantly snaps an idea. I write to music a lot.

Q: For everyone, do you reblog everything you read or do you think likes have the same “power” behind them?

Beka: No. If I read it, I reblog, unless it’s iffy. Iffy means, I read it, but wasn’t up my alley or I think it would be too triggering for people. I avoid those types of fics, anyway.

@mrswhozeewhatsis: There is a very small percentage of things I read that I won't reblog, but then, I haven't really read them, I've noped out for one reason or another. Usually grammar/formatting or content, not writing style, to be clear.

@girl-with-a-fandom-fettish: I guess one reason I suck at reblogging is a lot of the stuff I read has nothing to do with what is currently reblogged on my blog and that just doesn't match in my very matchy brain...is that just me?

@mrswhozeewhatsis: I believe that everyone should be able to put on their blog what they want. Some folks see their blog as a collection like in a museum. Some folks, like me, see it as more of a news feed. Collectors are less likely to reblog because they're carefully curating their blog. My advice to collectors is to then make a side blog where you can reblog the things you don't want to collect.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge you find in writing?

Beka: I think the biggest challenge for me is writing in the moment. I can't write if it's not flowing, and sometimes I try to force myself just to get the story out bc i fear i'm letting people down by not posting enough? But it’s not good when I do that, so I have to let myself go with the story that's with me at the moment. Sometimes it's two at once, like today. lol. Also, Sam is hard. (heheh no really, he is. also he is. but pg13)

Q: There are so many questions to about this process!

Beka: I do really get asked about it a lot, and it's really not that hard once you do it. It's annoying to navigate and decide what you want to do, but it really is awesome and not too frustrating. Amazon is really great because they do have an extensive help section AND message boards so you can ask and talk to other self publishers so it's like having someone with you.

Q: You said you chose to publish through Amazon. Out of curiosity, were there any other ways you heard about or considered before you settled on Amazon, and if so, was there a specific reason you didn't use them?

Beka:  I'm basically a Google fanatic, so when I decided to do this, I had no idea what I was doing so basically I goggled "How to self publish a book" and there were THOUSANDS of sites thrown at me. I honestly can't remember the other sites I looked at, but it basically came down to amazon was a company name I knew, I trusted, and had the best help and resources. And I have a kindle, so I figured that was easiest. I think I only looked into one or two others but I can't remember what they were. Amazon just stood out.  I did read up on like actually doing it yourself like through a book binder and all that and it was SOOOO much work this was just the easiest and most cost effective.

Q: Okay, but with Amazon, do they, like, own part of your content if you publish through them?

Beka: NOPE. I hold copyright to all my works. they just are the people who produce the actual physical book.

Q: What was the time frame, like from start to finish, I guess? Or the process if you don't mind. What did you have to do to get set up with Amazon?

Beka: Ok- so getting set up was easy. if you have an amazon account, you're good. Or you just make one. then there is a website- kdp.amazon.com -and they literally walk you through the entire process.  Someone up there asked how long it took -  I rushed it. my novel started as fanfic, which I wrote in about 2 months, then I took 2 weeks re-editing and changing to non-fanfic, then about a week editing again and formatting and then i had my hard copy. So, all in- maybe 3 months, but the actual amazon stuff takes a few days to get you a book in hand.

@kittenofdoomage: One thing I will say about Amazon, it's very convenient but I struggled with the covers and formatting.

Q: Did you have to use special software to submit your work?

Beka: I write in google docs, but amazon no likey- so I had to move everything over to Microsoft Word. and from there it gets updated. HOWEVER, there is now in beta testing an amazon program which I downloaded for my 3rd book but was too frustrated to figure out so I never used it. it's specifically for Kindle, but kindle didn't like my poetry format so I couldn’t do it.

@kittenofdoomage: They have step by step guides. And I use Google Docs, too, but you can download into a PDF or .doc file from there.

Q: So it's not a copy-paste thing, you upload the completed file then reformat it for amazon?

Beka: well... it's two different things for paperback and kindle. There are specific formatting guidelines for paperback such as margin sizes and gutters and such so when you turn a page it's not all wonky. Kindle formatting is MUCH easier to do. you just upload and it does it for you. The files for paperback need to be formatted with specific things. it's not hard... just annoying.

Q: You mentioned changing your fanfic into non-fanfic. Does that mean you can't have any fan elements in a story to publish it?

Beka: Well... my novel was basically a J2 x Reader BDSM fanfic, and so I changed J2 to original characters, I changed the show, the car, the everything. If you know that I write SPN fic, and you read it, you can see it's clearly SPN, but those who don't know SPN don't know that, because I've asked. lol. Also- someone read it recently and thought the Jared character was Jensen, so I guess I changed it enough.  I personally would not publish anything that actually said SPN or J2 or anything because those are copy-written characters and not mine so it does seem illegal to make money off of them, ya know? 

@mrswhozeewhatsis: It is actually illegal to make money off of fan fiction. The WB owns the characters and the show. If anyone else tries to make money off the characters or identifiable elements of the show, the WB can sue and win.

@kittenofdoomage: Those who use Patreon are covered under fair usage only because Patreon is a donation site.

Q: Were there any parts of the process that surprised you?

Beka:  Honestly, the entire thing surprised me. I went into it like just to see if it was possible and then i realized- I CAN’T publish my work. they WILL sell it. People WILL buy it. and it was all very shocking. It was scary, and I know people are intimidated by it, but it really was simple in the end, and if you want to do it- do it. It's awesome to look over at my bookshelf and see my name on actual, physical books ya know?

@kittenofdoomage: I was the same, Beka. I procrastinated for months. And okay, it wasn't a huge success but I learned from the first time, bettered myself the second time, and now.... I'm procrastinating again but that's not the point lol

Q: How much money do you make per sale?

Beka: It depends on the format and the cost you put. Like, for my short story and poetry book I make PROBABLY a few cents on it. My novel I make around $2 depending on the price I set. You set the selling price, and you can do sales and freebies. 

@kittenofdoomage: You can choose everything. They tell you how much you'll make from each copy sold.

Q: Do they tell you how much other authors sell similar works for, to give you an idea what others think is reasonable?

Beka: Yeah, you can look it up, too. They have a chart that's like, "This is your sale price. This is how much we take to make it. This is how much you get," and you can fiddle with it.

Q: Is there any kind of marketing happening on Amazon’s side, or is it all you?

Beka: They can do promotions, but you have to pay them to promote it.

Q: Did you look into promotion costs through Amazon? What kind of money are we talking, here?

Beka: Honestly, I don’t remember. When I see a fee of any kind I run for the hills because I'm cheap like that. lol. It's prob not too cheap BUT they also have this thing you can sign up for that's like a library kinda deal where your book can go on the free book a month kindle deal- i didn't do it bc you don't get royalties for it. but more people read it? idk what's best. It's all very over my head marketing.

@mrswhozeewhatsis: I guess if you're looking to become a popular selling author, and you have the cash to pay to promote it, then after a few books, it would pay off when you develop an audience.

Q: Do you think self publishing is the way to go long term, or maybe a better in terms of testing the waters? I realize you are still in the latter stage but I'm curious about your opinion...

Beka: Here's my thoughts: I used to be a singer/songwriter. I played in Manhattan. I had paying gigs. I recorded an album. I thought I could make it work. But I didn't go for it. No one handed me a record contract. I let it all go to have my kids and family.  I want to write. I realize no one's gonna stick their hand out and hand me a publishing deal. BUT I might be able to pay some bills with my books. I might be able to write enough, well enough to sell some books. and if i sell enough books, maybe a publisher WILL see me and then I can attempt the next stage.  I think self publishing is great. Why not? Do it if you want to do it. If you want to write, write. If you want to share it, share it. Who's to stop you? And if you can share it through self publishing with people all over the world?? freaking do it, man. 

Q: What is your best piece of writing advice?

Beka: OK, my best writing advice is... See it, feel it, write it. If you don't feel what you're writing, I'm not gonna feel it reading it. I think i'm more of an emotional writer than a descriptive. I can't tell you what the room looks like that they're in, but I can tell you how it feels that Dean just stepped on that Lego. ya know? Idk. Write what you see and feel, and put yourself into it, and it'll be amazing. 

Q: Are you a planner or a pantser?

Beka: Planner? SOMETIMES. It depends. I have plans for series, but shorter things I just go with the flow. I'm constantly messaging Ashley like "DEAN JUST DID X. I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!" lol

Q: Do you outline at all, or just have a general goal in mind?

Beka: I do outline series. but not... strictly or drastically. Like, right now i'm working on a series for my kink bingo that's alternates between the brothers. I have a general plot line over all to follow, but i've also set it up like c1- flogging. c2- spanking, etc. 

Q: What is something you know now that you wish you knew before you published?

Beka: I think I'd tell myself to not worry and just freaking write what I want.

Q: Do you have a writing schedule or something that keeps you productive?

Beka: No. I try very hard to have a schedule, but I'm a little... slightly... bipolar I think and my writing follows my moods. I can write 20K in a weekend and then nothing for a week. I just literally ride the wave of ideas. Like, currently I'm in a slump. but I wrote 10K this week before the slump hit. It's quite annoying.

Except for some general conversation about the stupid places and times we all get ideas and the incomprehensible notes we’ve all left for ourselves, the chat ended. A good time was had by all, I think!! Thanks to everyone who was there! @littlegreenplasticsoldier @kittenofdoomage @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish @because-imma-lady-assface @canadianspnhunter (And two folks whose URLs I never got: Cassie and Shaila)

General Pond Updates and Reminders

Angel Fish Award nominations are due soon! Click the link for the list of raffle prizes! Remember, every nomination is an entry! So far, we’ve only received three or four nominations. If you have sent in a nomination, but have not received a private message confirming we received it, we didn’t get it. Send it in again! Be sure to use Submit instead of Ask!

Don’t forget to submit your stories to be posted to the blog! When your stories are on the blog, then they are easier to nominate for Angel Fish Awards!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Writing Challenge - New prompts go up after every new episode, and there’s no deadline! Check out the prompts and rules at the link!

Say hi to February’s New Members!

Check the Pond CALENDAR to see when Big Fish will be in the chat room and other Pond and SPN events are happening! Know of something that’s not on the calendar, send us an ask or submission with the deets info details!  The calendar offers a lot of features, such as showing you when things are in your own timezone! Since we’re an international group, that’s a definite plus!!

Next month’s LiveChat details will be published as soon as we know them! Hope to see you there!

[miss-sassmaster]

50 Things I Learned Before Med School and then Compared to the Real Thing.

A little more than 4 years ago I wrote a 50 things-thing before I started medical school based solely off the things I was told by other people which was a lot of fun considering I wasn’t actually doing it yet. Now having basically completed my own whirlwind adventure I can go back and see if what I wrote on nothing but hearsay actually ended up being the truth.

I’ve literally waited so long to do this. Hope you enjoy.

First year

This is hardest you will have ever done. So far. – At this point in my life, yes, the first year of medical school tore me apart. But it put me back together, in way. 

Even though it seems like you have no time, you really do. Now is the time to go to social events and make friends. – Part of the whole process is finding companionship in commiseration.

Take pictures with everyone at your white coat ceremony. – So I ended up not being able to do this the way I wanted to back then, but you can bet your asses I’ve got this down for graduation.

Anatomy has three types of people on the first day; the people who are way too fascinated, the ones who cry because they are cutting open a person, and the people who throw up into the slop bucket. – No one threw up or passed out but it was A Thing no doubt about it.

Always flip the body slowly and with precision. Unless you want a formaldehyde and fat shower. – It was me. I got the shower. I had to throw away my shoes.

You might fail your first test. Cry a lot then get over it. – I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I never did.

Even though you know everyone has to be smart on some level, all the drama and nonsense you still see is a little disappointing. – It made things more interesting. Kinda like reality TV.

You will spend your loan money on non-school items. Because you have no money. – Thank you, Amazon.

Invest in focus factor. – Never did, never needed it. Anxiety is a strong motivator y’all.

Sleep is for the weak. Caffeine is for the strong. – Wrong, I need sleep so badly all the time. Please sleep.

You’ll get really good at scheduling. MAKE yourself good at it. – I got really good the first few years. Like creepy good. But that only lasts so long.

Studying is completely different. If you undergrad it, you’re in trouble. – Too many of my classmates learned that IMMEDIATELY. I, on the other hand, always struggled so it was just the same but A LOT MORE.

You will completely lose track of time, days and pretty much the outside world. – I still don’t know what day it is.

You will horribly mess up at least once during standardized patient care practice. It will be hilarious for everyone except you. – More than once even.

This year will mark your very last real summer vacation. Use wisely. – Kind of, but not really. It’s the last significant one (if your school is kind) but there are plenty of other opportunities to live life.

Second year

Tears will be shed because you didn’t realize how good you had it in first year. – Not until January. That’s when you start missing first year. At least I did.

Every first year will somehow look like babies, no matter their age. – Very much yes. All so young, and full of hope.

At this point they want you to do other things. Like volunteering, research and be involved on campus. Do them and know that you can sleep when you’re dead. – They as in residencies. They do want fluff, good, passionate fluff. But please sleep.

If you chose to be a TA for a first year class be ready to have to restudy the subject so you can actually be helpful. – Um, yes?

You should know your perfect study nirvana by this point. – Sorry, that answer is incorrect. Thanks for playing.

You will have multiple complete mental breakdowns ranging between “why did I do this to myself?” and realizing you know how to kill yourself far too many ways. – Oh second year. Never again.

Never make definitive plans. Non-meds just don’t seem to understand why you can’t just study later. – Or just don’t make plans at all. Show up when you want. Live on the edge of acceptability. 

Try your best to keep contact with a few people from the outside world. Try. – There will be a lot of contact with the boards crazy. You need the support.

Most schools end their MS2 years early to allow time to study for the boards. – Mine kinda did? I was going to fight my faculty about it, no joke.

Say good riddance to lectures! – In class lectures, anyways.

Studying for boards is your new job. – Is it even a job? It’s more like being in hell, but hey your friends are there.

After you get through boards you will sleep, party, then sleep some more. – I literally have no recollection of the week after step 1. None. I repressed it.

Third year

Being yelled at will be normal. – Most of the time it’s a stern tone with impending disappointment.

Being told you’re an idiot is also normal. – While it did happen, much less than anticipated which was nice.

Find a place to cry where no one can see you. – Bathrooms, cars, student areas, public areas. Whatever. 

You will do a comprehensive session with a patient only to find out they lied to you for 30 minutes when the doctor asks them the same questions. – Stare at patient while doctor speaks to them. Assert dominance. You know. They know. 

Be nice to the nurses. They know all secrets. – Absolutely true.

You will put on the spot all the time. Don’t worry; you’ll stop flinching every time anyone asks you a question. Eventually. – It’s more just acceptance that this is how it is. You won’t flinch because the apathy to being pimped is so strong.

How long can you go without sleep? Find out in third year! – 29 hours is my current record.

Learn to impress. You need LORs for residency programs. Asking a lot of questions helps you do this. – Honestly, being the best version of you helps you with this. The people who get you will be the people who stand for you.

Something at some point will make you pass out/throw up/cringe so hard you reconsider your entire life. – Wound care.

At some point, a patient will throw up/excrete something/have an mass explode all over you. And your reaction will be the essence of perfection. – This was literally just live birth for me. A human exploding into existence covered in every juice. That’s why I will never do OB.

The end of written exams! (Besides the boards, obviously). – Nope. Somehow they manage to sneak in just a few more here and there.

You will figure out what kind of physician YOU NEVER WANT TO BE. – Yes.

And you’ll figure what you actually like and what you could see yourself doing as a doctor. – You get there. There is still some wiggle room but there usually is direction you can feel.

Fourth year

Boards AGAIN. – Back again, but with less gusto.

This will be your most relaxed, easy year of medical school. Comparatively. – In terms of studying yes, in terms of anxiety not so much.

You get to pick rotation sites! Do your best to get them to match up to the places you interview at because you’re already strapped for cash. – Only if you’re lucky really. It’s so much more random and complicated than people made it seem.

There are dinners the night before interviews.  GO TO THESE. – Yes! Go if can! Very important to see how the residents coexist!

Make ALL the connections! And not just with the doctors! Get in with the residents. – Residents have the secret power. They may not get you in but oh boy can they get you out.

Match is confusing and stressful, but it’s actually applicant oriented. So that’s nice. – I mean. That’s what we’re told. We’re told a lot of things.

The only people who say match day isn’t bad are the people who matched. – It was still pretty awful waiting around until 12 PM. It just ended well for me, somehow. 

Now is your chance to reconnect with people. A lot goes by in 4 years. – Well considering I’m having a huge wedding, yeah. But that’s just me. 

If you make it through the most amazing hell journey, you are award with your degree and become a real to life Doctor. – I’m just a dork with a doctoral degree. 

Getting out of medical school doesn’t mean you actually know anything though. You got years to go kid. – Amen. 

[pixiteapps]

There’s a new coloring book by Steve McDonald for Pigment.

We’re thrilled to announce “Home Sweet Home”, our latest artist collaboration and coloring book for Pigment.

Steve McDonald is an International best selling Canadian illustrator and artist. He is the creator of the Fantastic series of coloring books from Chronicle and has also done illustration work for Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Architectural Digest, and Blue Man Group among others. His distinctive and detailed line drawings are recognized around the world. Steve is also known for his fantastical illustrations of imaginary places and vehicles. Steve studied editorial illustration and fine art at The Ontario College of Art and Design. Steve, his wife, and two teenage daughters call Ontario home but have spent time living in India, Italy, Indonesia, and the Middle East. 

We had a few questions for Steve, and he was kind enough to answer them for us. Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? I always wanted to be a visual artist. For as long as I can remember. I was lucky that way, I was going to do this no matter what. My grandmother was an artist and when I was little just the site of her paint box full of oils and brushes filled me with awe. It was a sort of magic as far as I was concerned...the ability to capture a scene or person on a panel or canvas with color and lines, to make it your own...I was determined to do this. My tools have changed over the years, I mainly use a tablet and a stylus now, but the same wonder remains. The act of image crafting - whether it be for drawings for coloring books, full-color magazine illustrations, web images or even fine art was always the only option for me - and I consider myself fortunate to do what I love for a living. 

What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever created? My favorite artistic creation would have to be the Fantastic coloring book series from Chronicle. It was an incredibly rewarding experience in so many ways. The series consists of five books - Fantastic Cities, Fantastic Structures, Fantastic Collections, Fantastic Planet and Fantastic Machines. They have become an internationally best-selling series with over half a million books in print. They have been published in more than 30 countries and have been translated into more than twenty languages. The project allowed me to widely showcase and share the work I love doing the most - my detailed line drawings - in a way that so many people could enjoy them and also be encouraged to get creative themselves. The idea that the books gave many people a mindful break from the busy world around them was such a pleasant surprise. I received countless letters remarking on how the coloring books helped people get through various personal challenges. Any kind of creativity is good for the soul, the fact that this project was so successful at helping others be creative has to be the most rewarding part of it all. 

What’s the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? Don't be so critical. Have fun. Create what you want. Experiment. The act of creation can be a personal one. Try not to think about the result but the process. I truly believe we should all draw more. Play more music. Write more poetry. About what? Whatever it is about the world that resonates with you. Document it. Record it. Paint it. Write it down...your view is valid and interesting. So much of life is 'creating'...the clothes you wear, the way you decorate your house, your hairstyle, even the way you lay out your desk...enjoy those acts of creation and let yourself be original or singular. In the world today we are so busy and online so much of time that any act of creation becomes a challenge. Sometimes we need to turn off the noise, get offline, take a walk outside and let your true self emerge in order to find that creative center in ourselves. Are there other coloring book artists or illustrators that inspire you? There are so many coloring book illustrators that I admire. Carlo Stanga is wonderful at architecture. He has such a beautiful nostalgic style. The coloring books of Kerby Rosanes are amazingly imaginative and detailed. I think you have to give Johanna Basford credit as well...she was really the first to recognize a market for adult coloring books and her work is really wonderful. As far as other illustrators that I admire, there are so many. I've been spending a lot of time looking at anime lately. I love the artwork from Tekkonkinkreet by Taiyō Matsumot - It was directed by Michael Arias, which established him as the first non-Japanese director of a major anime film. The story was based on the homonym three-volume seinen manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto, which was originally serialized from 1993 to 1994 in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits. I'm also a huge fan of the wonderful art of Teikoku Shônen Aka Imperial Boy. His cityscapes are so rich with life and detail. You can look at them for hours. I also love good traditional painting. The work of William Fisk, he paints super realistic huge canvases of everyday objects, is mesmerizing in its detail but still quite expressive. I love the interior spaces and figurative work of Zoey Franks - her use of color is so bold and brave. Speaking of figurative work, the paintings of Daniel Hughes are worth exploring. His subtle style of playing with light on the human form is so effective. Nathan Walsh's architectural drawings/paintings are super fun to contemplate.

Richard Hind is an illustrator/artist I follow on instagram, I love his line drawings. Vera Berezina is another. Her architectural drawings are a delight to look at. Roman Maklakov's work is also really amazing...I could go on and on here. I do love the fact that social media (especially Instagram) has allowed so many artists to exhibit and share their work with a wide audience. There is so much inspiration to find there. It's worth exploring.

+++++

Find Steve online: https://sdmcdonald.com/

https://www.instagram.com/stevedmcdonald/ https://www.facebook.com/fantasticcities/ https://www.facebook.com/artbysteve/

Purchase Fantastic Cities:

https://www.chroniclebooks.com/fantastic-cities.html

Interested in Pigment? You can find everything you need right here.

Happy painting! Team Pixite

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, mid July to August, 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across from July 14 to August 24, although some may be older than that.

Tumblr has not been saving all of my drafts correctly, which has led to me rewriting some of this post more than once. (I’m now going to be compiling it elsewhere & pasting it here when done, to avoid this issue in the future.) That, a heavy workload, and some vacation time delayed & truncated this report. 

But the good news is I am now on a more consistent schedule, with more time to read and write. I expect to be getting this back to 3 times a month very soon. 

Are there types of news you would like to see here? Please let me know! Leave a comment below, email me through my website, or send me a message on Twitter.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

The priority placement is US search for items that ship free has been around for nearly 4 weeks, and doesn’t seem as disruptive as some feared. Etsy is conscious that non-US sellers are particularly upset about this, and have therefore published a list of things they are doing to help international sellers. (note that most of those things also help US sellers that ship to other countries, 

Etsy’s 2nd quarter results came out on August 1. Everything was up, but not quite as much as some experts predicted, so the stock is down quite a bit. The big announcement was that Etsy will be combining Promoted Listings & Google Shopping ads bought by sellers into Etsy Ads. They are supposed to launch in August, but I have yet to hear of any seller who thought this was a good idea.

3.5 million people worldwide use at least one social media platform. (That’s 46% of the planet’s population.) And more than half of the planet  - over 4 billion people - watch videos online. “[H]alf of all internet users below the age of 35″ use voice to operate their devices, with 43% of internet users worldwide using voice at least occasionally. 

SEO isn’t enough; you are going to have to spend money to be seen, if you don’t already “The last 18 years have been an anomaly. Twenty years ago, if a brand couldn't afford to pay for a newspaper or a radio ad, the media company didn't give the company time to publish a public service announcement. SEO allowed companies to go through a period where they received free listings on search engines like Google and Bing. Sending people to a brand's website is like getting a free television or radio commercial or newspaper ad or billboard at the baseball park in 1984″

Trend watch: both clothing retailers and makeup companies are seeing a drop in sales as their markets shrink. If you sell either, you will want to read both articles, as there are some parallels between the two areas in regard to what is and is not working. 

ETSY NEWS

Etsy purchased musical gear website Reverb for $275 million; it will continue to run separate from Etsy. Etsy stock went up at the time. This is notable because Etsy hasn’t bought much lately; it looks like they are slowly dialing back the panic mode, single-goal approach. Their business acumen has disappointed one commentator [humour].

Etsy is “improving” Etsy shop stats. (Note that the Google Shopping category is apparently for the ads you buy yourself only, not the ones Etsy buys, so you will need to use Google Analytics to look at those hits for the moment.) This seems to be leading up to the launch of Etsy Ads (see above).

Here’s some coverage of Etsy changes in the past few years (not a lot new, with some errors). 

Etsy seems to be ramping up its monitoring of seller customer service factors, as more people are receiving email notifications that their shops are falling below Etsy’s customer service expectations. I expect that any updates in this area might involve the new chat convo thingy: Convos are changing to live chat threads, which you cannot write more than one paragraph for because hitting return sends the message. It’s a mess. (Please forgive my frustration; I’ve already had to deal with over 40 separate convos from one buyer alone.)

There will be a site-wide Labour Day sale August 30-September 2, which Etsy will apparently be promoting. 

Fall fashion trends as promoted by Etsy: apparently silk scarves are in, for all sorts of uses. They also released their holiday trend report (pdf file), which I will summarize next week if I can find the time. It’s worth a look, because they divulge some top search data. You can also listen to the podcast, or read the podcast transcript. 

This article on tiered pricing and increasing your average order value is geared towards people using the $35 free shipping guarantee, but it is also useful for anyone wanting their customers to buy more from them. 

Staff will be using the Etsy Success section of the forum to post weekly tips called “Etsy Insights”. So far, they have been posting each week’s thread in that announcement post, so it is easy to skim and see if any topics are relevant for you. 

They are also asking members to sign up for more research surveys; so far, I am finding it pretty boring, and all of the content on their “hub” page is over a year old. 

The expansion into India saw their domestic listings more than double last year. Free workshops have helped bring many new sellers aboard. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google’s John Mu, who does SEO outreach & education, reminds us that “LSI keywords” are not actually a thing. (LSI was a computer method to figure out relationships between words back in the 1980s; no search engine today is using it, as they have real search data on how people relate words to each other, and it just doesn’t give any insight into modern search technology.)

You don’t need tons of backlinks, but you do need good ones. And linking out on your own site is a good idea in many cases [video], as long as it serves your readers. 

Using images that show up on many different web pages can harm your SEO. They used stock photos that showed up on hundreds of pages for this experiment, so it is not likely that using your own image on 5 sites, for example, would be a problem. 

It looks like there was a fairly significant Google update around July 18th; there’s a bit more coverage here. The last 3 large Google updates are summarized & analyzed here. 

Google then released a blog post explaining their core updates and what you should do if you are negatively affected by one. They linked to several SEO websites explaining Google’s concept “E-A-T” (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), which is particularly important if you produce blog posts or educational materials.  

Less than half of Google searches now lead to a click on a website result, at least on desktop. Mobile Google searches overwhelmingly do not result in traffic to a website any more. (Note: as I always remind people, the data from these types of studies is always a bit suspect, because they only have a slice of the data, but the provider here probably has the biggest slice worldwide. 

Do you do some simple coding on your website or blog? You will find this beginners’ guide to canonical tags and the different uses of redirects and canonical tags [video & transcript] very helpful. If you are a bit more advanced than that, here’s a good guide to meta tags. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Hubspot puts out a lot of good digital marketing guides; check out their “Ultimate Guide to Content Distribution”. Also, they covered how to write a great (& SEO-effective) blog headline, with examples. 

Some stats on current social media usage [infographic]. 

Verizon sold Tumblr to Wordpress owner Automattic. 

Snapchat users continue to increase, as does revenue. They still aren’t profitable, but didn’t expect to be yet. 

Not getting enough traffic on Facebook? Here’s how to get seen by more people there. 

There are ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile to get more sales.

How to get valuable Twitter followers, that is, not bots. (They use Etsy as an example of a well-optimized Twitter profile.) 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Amazon is making advertising an even bigger slice of its income. 

Digital ad spending is continuing to increase in most areas.

Facebook is expanding its search ads to more businesses; it’s not really clear how it all works, though. The ads must also run as news feed ads. Here are some basic tips on how to get the most out of Facebook’s ad algorithm. 

With Etsy possibly ending the free Google Shopping ads it currently buys for us (see the Etsy Ads announcement above), this might be a good time to look into buying Google Shopping ads for your website; here is your complete guide to setting them up. 

More changes to regular Google ads mean less control for the business buying ads, meaning that exact match phrases are no longer even close. “Google says 15% of its daily searches are new — and advertisers will miss out on these new queries if matching is too tightly controlled. Its machine learning systems, the company says, can infer intent and spare advertisers from creating exhaustive keyword lists in order to get their ads to trigger on relevant queries.”

If you are thinking about paying for ads on Pinterest, you will want to read this starter guide. 

Twitter video ads now have an option to not pay for a click unless people view at least 6 seconds of the video. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

How to use Instagram Analytics to boost your business. (That is written for companies that are larger than most Etsy shops, but there is plenty of good material there.)

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

eBay beat earnings expectations in the second quarter. 

Amazon had higher than expected sales but lower than expected earnings in the second quarter. They keep thriving despite low profits margins because they have a massive cash flow. 

Alibaba reported higher than expected revenue and profit for its first quarter ending June 30th. 

Amazon sales on Prime Day (July 15-16, actually 2 days) were greater than last year’s Black Friday & Cyber Monday combined, and also signed up more new Prime members on each than ever before. Other websites also saw a big boost, especially for electronics. 

Amazon forced to amend its seller policies worldwide following German legal action. As of August 16, they will give 30 days notice for standard account cancellations. 

And they have expanded their robot deliveries (still followed by humans, though!)

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

While buyers do love free shipping, nearly half of US consumers surveyed will choose to pay for shipping in certain circumstances, most commonly when they really want the product. Only 11% said they never buy unless shipping is free. 

When you are trying to sell something, and especially if you want a repeat buyer, make sure you are pitching it to the right target market. For example, people who don’t want to spend a lot of money won’t buy things they can get for free elsewhere. Provide value for the right people. (A lot of this article is pitched at entrepreneurs selling classes and events, not tangible products, but I think there is a lot of value in the explanations.)

MISCELLANEOUS

WordPress is one of the most popular ways to set up your own website; here’s a beginner’s guide to getting started. 

Google beat earnings expectations in the second quarter. Ad revenue was up a lot. Microsoft also had a better-than-expected quarter, but the growth of their search ads and of LinkedIn (which they own) has slowed. 

How to choose colours that will work together well. 

There is a lot of research on productivity; here are 10 things you can do to get more done. 

If you use Chrome, you could really use these Chrome keyboard shortcuts. 

[amplesalty]

Christmas 2021: Day 1 - Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

A demon trapped by Sámi!

It’s Christmas time and there’s no need to be afraid, unless you’re scared of a series of blog posts about seasonal films and TV specials, in which case are you ever in the wrong place. That’s right, it’s that special time of year when we watch an indeterminate amount of Christmas and/or other denominational media in order to get that special tingly feeling inside that can only come from a muscular Austrian man punch a reindeer or a small child defend himself from two mean criminals who are very dumb.

We kick things off as ever by dipping in to the world of festive horror and with a foreign film no less, all the way from Finland. That’s certainly another obscure one off the list. We might be a little light on the old screengrabs on this one since I actually bought it on blu ray because...I’m not quite sure actually. In a rare moment of forward planning I actually bought this about a month ago for about £4. Looking at it now, what copies there are seem to be going on Amazon and Ebay for about £20. Did this just become super rare within the last few weeks or is it the Christmas premium? Anyway, it might be for the best that we don’t have too many pictures on show here given one particular stretch of the movie. Our old friend Tor Johnson would have gotten quite the work out there but we’ll get on to that...

This is one of those movies like Santa’s Slay that tries to delve into the ‘real’ story of Christmas. No, not all that phoney baloney Jesus nonsense, we’re talking the real story of Santa. And no, we’re not talking about Saint Nicholas of Myra cracking the skulls of non believers as Kirk Cameron explained to us. We’re talking about evil Santa eating the souls of children instead of bringing them a new iPhone or PS5. Though, I think even Santa and his elves would be hard pressed to get hold of a PS5 right now.

This is all about some sort of evil goat version of Santa that instead of giving to kids, he just straight up takes them instead, leaving some form of crude carved figure with straw hair in their place. One of the kids here starts reading up on him and we see all these drawings of Santa cooking kids in giant boiling cauldrons. I dread to think what else the folklore of this Santa says about him considering this kid gets dressed up in all sort of padding, helmet and even tells his friend to strap some cardboard to his bum for protection...

We learn that high atop Korvatunturi, a mountain on the border of Finland and Russia, a team of workers are ‘collecting samples’ for some sort of wild eye old man who believes that the mountain is one giant burial site for a being trapped in ice centuries ago and kept deep within.

Side note, the Sámi people who are said to be the ones who encased this being have a pretty kickass flag.

Just as we saw in Tremors back in October and Reptelicus before that, sometimes digging too deep can awaken something in the darkness but here it seems to be by design.

Not that we ever really get to see what lurks in the darkness, which is fair enough for any good monster movie, you have to build up your suspense. This movie certainly does that and it builds some intrigue for what is lurking in the shadows but it really does come across as a drastic change of pace compared to some of the previous Christmas horror movies I’ve watched. I don’t know if the words ‘tension’ or ‘subtlety’ even exist within the dictionary of something like Silent Night, Deadly Night which doesn’t waste anyone’s time in getting right down to the bloody action. Here, it’s more of a slow build, getting a feel for this quieter rural lifestyle and slowly coming to learn of the creepy goings on as we discover a field full of hundreds upon hundreds of reindeer corpses. Having seen their livestock slaughtered, their food source ruined and putting them out of pocket to the tune of an estimated $85,000 (plus 22% VAT apparently), the locals point the figure at those on the mountain and threaten to cause some sort of international incident as they break down the gate and storm the place on their skidoos.

Not that they find much there save for a giant crater and some living quarters that seem to be hastily abandoned. What they do find waiting for them back home though is a seemingly catatonic old man with a long, silvery beard that only seemst to stir at the smell of gingerbread and small children. It is kind of amusing to see the locals try and extort this old geezer and threaten to hold him hostage until someone pays them back for the $85 grand they’re out for all the dead reindeer. Need to be careful around him though as at one point he goes all Mike Tyson and bites someone’s ear off.

And there’s a lot more where he came from too as we find that this is one of Santa’s elves, not the little titchy fellows in his workshop making toys, these are all naked Grandpas running around with pickaxes. Seriously, Santa Tor would have had his work cut out censoring all this old man schlong.

I’d question how scary this movie is on the whole but props to the guy playing the one main elf that these guys have to deal with, that guy looks creepy as all hell.

I must say though, the resolution of them rehabilitating these elves and turning into mall Santas that they can ship around the world for great profit seems a little off. Especially when they estimate that each one is worth $85 grand so they stand to make about $16m (again, plus 22% VAT. Mustn’t forget the VAT...). Who’s buying a mall santa for $85k?! Sure you might have to train someone and there’s costs for vetting and what not but I’m sure you could throw some fat guy a suit, fake beard and £10 an hour and you’ve got yourself a perfectly adequate Santa Claus. Maybe they’re pitching these as really premium and cost effective Santa replacements. Since they seem to be semi-mythical beings, maybe it’s a long term investment. Rather than just pay that fat guy £10 ph and then have to find his replacement next year, you just buy this one Santa once and that’s it.

This certainly an interesting one, no where near as over the top and bloody as some of the Christmas horrors that have come before it but it has a charm from the slightly bumbiling characters trying the piece together all this madness and the coming of age tale of young Pietari is cute. He’s kinda like Kevin McAllister in his own way, initially thought of as this inept young boy that needs to have his hand held through life, only to become this independent force who becomes the hero of the day.

Plus there is a certain novelty to this being a Finnish film and seeing a different take on the whole Santa story with this whole Joulupukki thing. Any other cultural Christmas movies for me to watch? What about that racist fellow in the Netherlands, Zwarte Piet?!